The story behind Aerolab’s logo.
How we created our magic kite and how it evolved over the years.
A company’s identity and its logo go hand in hand. You can try to mold the philosophy and culture of your company, but, truth is, in the end a company defines itself. It’s like a little kid that learns how to walk by itself and no one can foresee where it will go.
Since Aerolab’s kite started flying in 2011, our identity went through various changes. That came with the evolution of a culture that didn’t stop flowing. Today, after hundreds of adventures and learning experiences, we have reached a new moment in Aerolab’s life.
We felt the need to stand out and show the world how much we had grown, but, also, that our startup spirit is still present. That we matured, but we are still just as crazy.
To us it was extremely important that our new logo had its own personality, that it behaved in a certain way, that it spoke in a certain way, and had stories to tell. That’s why, we trusted our own team of illustrators with this task. We knew they could bring life to our brand, provide it with that touch of humanity we always try to impart in the products we develop for our clients.
“The day we told our illustrators, Gustavo and Carla, that we wanted to redesign our logo, we told them our idea was that Aerolab kept its young spirit, being a fun, cool, cutting-edge brand, but, at the same time, showing a certain amount of the maturity and seriousness we have gained over time,” said Agustín Linenberg, Aerolab’s CEO.
THE EVOLUTION OF AEROLAB’S LOGO OVER TIME
When we built the first version of Aerolab’s identity, we focused the concept on bringing ideas back to Earth. To reinforce that image, we played with the kite metaphor, which one can control while it flies.
Our first logo was a rigid diamond-shaped, with straight lines and an existing font. Design wise, the logo’s most striking feature was that the kite didn’t have a fixed location. It could fly and the thread could be extended to wherever it wandered and that didn’t create any sort of visual noise.
“The first version of Aerolab’s logo sought to highlight our goal of always putting quality over all things. We wanted to be original from the conception and demonstrate all the creative effort we had put in the building of our own name and brand”, remarked Agustín.
A year passed, and it was time for the first big redesign. We went for a handwritten font and a more aerodynamic kite. This second logo aimed to show Aerolab’s fun, cool, avant-garde side.
At the same time, we began to explore different sides of our identity, we made stickers, posters, mugs and even Aerolab t-shirts. We wanted to fill our workplace with diverse elements that showed our love of randomness.
“We had a clear hindsight of where we wanted to go, which were the type of clients we wanted to work with, which were our role models and what type of culture we wanted to convey. Hence, our second logo wasn’t something that only existed in the vacuum of digital space, it had a physical presence that filled our workspace”, explained Agustín.
OUR NEW LOGO
One of the most noticeable changes we made on the logo was the decision to shorten the kite’s tail, leaving the blue color, and replacing the handwritten font with a more geometrical one which was completely custom made.
We felt there was no need for the logo to be so loaded, and that Aerolab’s relaxed, lean side could be represented with the movement of the kite’s tail.
“For the new logo we sought to improve the diamond shape of the kite and add a slight tilt to the right to give the impression that we are flying forward. It was very important to us that the logo kept the soul of its previous version, because we didn’t want that those who already knew our brand found themselves looking at something completely new,” explained Gustavo Zambelli, Aerolab’s lead of Illustration.
Sometimes, there’s a false belief that a company’s brand has to say everything the company stands for. Nevertheless, a logo is a mere interpretation of the company’s identity. It is the first approach to something much larger that stands behind it. By redesigning Aerolab’s logo, we set out to create a minimalistic, lean, simple, and clean identity, that, at the same time, could say something about who we are as a company.
“Today we are still looking forward, but we also have the ability to look back and reflect on the journey. When we started, we knew what it was we wanted to do, but we were not very certain of how. Over time, we started defining where we wanted to go and how we could do it. Even if we’re not yet aware of how far we can go, we know where we are heading and we have the experience needed to face those challenges”, concluded Agustín.
